Chapter 16

Wearing nothing but a loincloth and a small leather bag around his neck, William walked to the edge of the stream. Once there, he paused and looked down at the ground. At the border between water and land was a stone that caught his attention. Kneeling, he picked it up.

The stone was the diameter of a quarter with a thickness of a quarter of an inch. The edges were worn smooth. There was nothing remarkable about the stone except for one feature -- the center of the stone had been worn away to produce a hole. It was a stone of great power. Thousands of years had gone into its formation. It required events that were so unlikely that the existence of the stone should be impossible.

William pulled the leather bag from around his neck and attached the stone to it. Replacing it around his neck, he knew the medicine bag was complete. Lucy had made the medicine bag under the supervision of Linda. The bag had traditional beading, but had been decorated with the eagle feathers, the rattle, and, now, the stone. Inside the medicine bag were sacred herbs.

The stream chilled him as he waded into the water until it came to his knees. He cupped his hands. Bending, he filled his hands with water. He lifted his cupped hands over his head and allowed the water to cascade onto his head. He repeated that until his entire body was wet.

His ritual bathing complete, William left the stream and headed towards the sweat lodge. He noted with satisfaction that it was well placed for communication with the spirits. The door opened eastwards, the direction from which everything starts. He picked up his drum. Days of preparation had brought him to the proper mental and emotional state for his spirit journey. It was now necessary to undergo the ritual cleansing of the sweat lodge.

William joined the other men standing outside the small shelter. The oldest man lit a sage smudge and cleansed each man with its smoke. After a prayer, half of the men entered the shelter with him. The floor of the sweat lodge was covered with cedar boughs. The other half of the men, the Dog Soldiers, remained outside to tend the fire, pass the stones into the lodge, and to protect the ceremony.

Once the men had sat down upon the cedar boughs, a dog soldier thrust stones into the lodge using a forked stick. The largest stone went into the middle of the central pit. Around the center stone, stones were placed in the four cardinal directions. As each stone was brought into the lodge, it was sprinkled with sage. The air filled with the rich scent. Water was sprinkled onto the rocks creating a cloud of steam. The men passed around an ancient pipe.

The oldest man started beating on his drum. William followed suit. When the chanting started, the atmosphere in the lodge changed. The physical reality of the world outside disappeared, to be replaced by a smoky otherworld feel. Time passed as more stones were brought into the sweat lodge. The pores of William's skin opened and his body was soon covered with thin film of sweat.

When the last of the rocks had cooled in the sweat lodge, one of the dog soldiers opened the flap covering the entrance. Fresh air rushed in displacing the steam and smell of sage. William's mind cleared with influx the fresh air.

One of the men pointed down a path. William knew that he was to follow the path to a small cave along a cliff for his vision quest. Mediating, he made the walk along the path. After walking for two hours he arrived at the cave. Taking a seat he mediated and waited for his vision to descend upon him.

William entered the fog. Beneath his feet was the hard dust of the desert. There was a small murmur of noise as if water was cascading through a distant shallow narrow of a river. He waited for his guide to arrive. Time had lost its normal progression as he was in another world.

A raven appeared before him and gave forth a croak that said, "Follow me."

When the raven took wing, William followed. As he walked the path, the nature of the path changed from desert to woodland to plains to swamp, but the fog surrounding him remained. Along the way, animals appeared along the path. In each natural environment, the animals special to those places presented themselves to him. There was the rattlesnake, deer, bear, otter, eagle, hawk, mouse, buffalo, coyote, and cougar, to name a few. At each animal, the raven paused for William to give honor to the animal.

The raven led William to the edge of a great meadow surrounded by ancient oak trees. The fog rolled back revealing the meadow in its full glory. The sun shined from above. Vines blocked his path to the meadow. Around him, the seasons changed. The vines withered and fell away. With a last croak, the raven left leaving William free to enter the meadow.

The vision lifted and William's consciousness returned to the cave. Standing, he returned down the path that he had followed to reach the cave. Reaching the sweat lodge, he greeted the men waiting for him. The ritual of the sweat lodge was repeated.

When the last stone had cooled. The other men in the lodge stopped their drumming and chanting. All turned to look at William. In a gruff voice, he said, "Always the same vision."